Representational image of a traffic signal in the foreground of the Bombay Stock Exchange on Dalal Street. File

Equity benchmark indices declined in early trade on Tuesday in line with weak trends from Asian markets and fresh foreign fund outflows.

The BSE Sensex declined 218.11 points to 73,787.83. The NSE Nifty dipped 97.45 points to 22,404.55.

Among the Sensex components, Nestle, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Finserv, Axis Bank, Hindustan Unilever and ICICI Bank were the major laggards.

Tata Steel, Power Grid, Tata Steel and Asian Paints were among the gainers.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading lower while Tokyo quoted in the positive territory.

Wall Street ended mostly higher on Monday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 92.95 crore on Saturday, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.56% to $83.24 a barrel.

The BSE benchmark climbed 88.91 points or 0.12% to end at 74,005.94 in a special trading session on Saturday. The NSE Nifty advanced 35.90 points or 0.16% to 22,502.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) and BSE conducted a special trading session in the equity and equity derivative segments on May 18 to check their preparedness for handling major disruptions or failures at the primary site.

Among individual stocks, Nestle India fell over 2%, walking back gains made in the previous session, as the shareholders of the local arm voted against a royalty hike to Swiss parent Nestle SA.

The KitKat chocolate maker was the top loser on the benchmark Nifty.

Bharat Electronics rose 9% to a record high after reporting a 30% jump in March-quarter profit.

Oil India rose about 4% to an all-time high after reporting a rise in fourth-quarter profit.

Markets were closed on May 20 due to the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections in Mumbai.